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Koeksister
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Koeksisters

A South African indulgent treat recipe
Course Dessert
Cuisine southafrican
Keyword dessert, donut, Koeksister, sweet
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Resing time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 2 cups allpurpose flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 50 g unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 large egg

For the sugar syrup

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp dried ginger powder

Instructions

Prepare the sugar syrup

  • Add all the ingredients except the lemon juice to a saucepan and allow the sugar to dissolve over medium-low heat
  • Let it simmer until the sugar syrup thickens
  • Set aside and mix in the lemon juice
  • Let it cool and store in the fridge for atleast a few hours or preferably overnight

For the dough

  • Rub the cold butter into the flour and salt and mix until it resembles coarse sand.
  • Make a well in the centre and pour the milk and add the egg.
  • Knead for 5-8 minutes until the dough is smooth
  • Wrap in clingfilm and store in the fridge for atleast an hour
  • After an hour, take out the dough and roll it on a lightly floured surface to form a rectangle, around 6-8mm thick
  • Cut the rectangle into 5cm wide strips and then cut it in half again into smaller rectangles - around 3-5 cm wide
  • Take each rectangle and cut it into 3 equal portions, leaving the top portion intact. Braid/plait the strips and fold over the ends to seal. Pinch the top of the braid to form a triangle
    Koeksister_braiding

To assemble

  • Keep the sugar syrup on a bowl of iced water. *See notes
  • Fill a wok or deep pan with oil and let it heat until a piece of dough added to the oil rises to the top immediately and sizzles with bubbles around it.
  • Fry the koeksisters in the hot oil. When they rise to the top, carefully flip them over and fry until they are golden brown
    koeksister_frying
  • Immediately, add the fried koeksisters to the cold sugar syrup and toss over until the syrup coats the koeksisters
  • Let it rest over a cooling rack to cool and let the excess syrup drain out
  • Store in the fridge and serve cold.

Notes

  1. The sugar syrup should be really cold when adding the koeksister, otherwise it will not soak up the syrup
  2. Divide the syrup into couple of bowls and take out only 1 bowl at a time so that you can swap it for colder ones should the syrup become warm as you are adding the hot koeksisters.
  3. It is best to prepare the sugar syrup the previous night and let it chill in the fridge overnight.